


Family Drama

by Gemini_00



Series: Batfamily Shorts [49]
Category: Batman (All Media types), Batman (Comics), Batman Under The Red Hood
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 20:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18645088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemini_00/pseuds/Gemini_00
Summary: Gotham is the Owl Family’s playground, hunting ground and home. Unfortunately, Red Hood has to disagreePrompt: Dark Fic





	Family Drama

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Earth 3 mentioned in past shorts!

Predator looked good covered in blood, Talon thought as the blood matched her red hair. It was like she tortured without thought, cold and calculated. Precise in all the ways he wasn’t. She always said that Talon got too excited when it came to confrontation.

 

“Well looks like we know where Jay is hiding out at,” She spoke, “Or was. He still knows us. He knows we came for his friends so we know your little wing is on the run again.”

 

“Tsk tsk,” He sighed watching as she cleaned the area. He was too busy drawing pictures in the blood, “Daddy will be just so disappointed.”

 

Predator glared at him, “You should be taking this more seriously. He knows stuff. He’s working with our enemies.”

 

“He’s still family, Predator,” Talon grinned as he finished the smiley face, “and family always sticks together.”

 

Talon loved his family. He liked to play games with his family.

  
  
  


“Fuck your bitch of a brother has good aim,” Slade groaned as Jason pried the poison tip blade out of his back. Jason was still covered in the blood of the slackeys under his payroll. A payroll that was growing increasingly smaller after Talia had to cut him from the League’s funds… Not that Jason doesn’t get it. Right now, Owlman has her son. Right now, Owlman is in the lead and Talia can’t risk pissing him off.

 

But Jason can.

 

Jason is stopping the Owlman. He never wanted to be a killer, he was just some poor kid in the slums that got messed up in the wrong crowd. Then he accidentally died because Ultra Man is a dick. Talia brought him back and helped him realize some things. Jason did a lot of bad things when being tempted by the promises of home and family. Jason became an owl, when he thought he was killing the low member gangs of gotham, he was actually just collecting territory for Bruce. He was a pawn in a sick man’s game. A man who collected little children crusaders to do his grunt work while he sat pretty. Jason has to stop that.

 

“He’s been playing around with poisons and toxins in his blades again,” Jason told the unwilling partner. Deathstroke wasn’t a good guy, but he wasn’t absolute dirt either.

  
  
  


Damian tried to control his breathing. He didn’t like the games that his father’s family played, he didn’t like it at all. The dark side within Damian that his grandfather disapproved of and his mother attempted to tame had a nasty habit of coming out when prompted. But not enough for the Owlman.

 

Damian knew killing was part of life. His grandfather’s League understood but when they killed, they took out the bad guys. They reeled mercy. Even with Grandfather’s ruling with an Iron fist, he never seeked out the destruction unless it was vile filth. Like Gotham. But then Grandfather met his match within the Owlman. The al Ghuls and league are not welcomed in Gotham or they fear destruction and being known to the world, this means they are not coming for Damian. Oh how foolish the little boy had been when he searched for his father.

 

“Come out little birdie,” Red Owl called out to him. They’d been playing what Damian calls torture for an hour now. He hides, Drake finds him, they fight or else Damian will have to spend a night in the morgue again. So Damian fights back as much as he possibly can, “You have ten minutes left. Don’t you want to get a better hit in… Better to be on the offensive, you know I’ll find you.”

 

And God, Damian knows it. He knows it but he can’t bring his feet to move and suprised his opponent. He doesn’t know their ways of killer violence and merciless torture. He doesn’t want to be like this.

 

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Drake sang louder.

  
  
  


Owlman glared at the blonde next to him. She chattered endlessly about nothing and he wished to wrap his hand around her throat. But the family was already tense right now and Owlman can’t say that the girl is useless. Stephanie Brown will forever be a thorn in his side, but he supposed that was family in general.

 

“Silence before I have Alfred sew your mouth shut,” He threatened. But the dark gleam in spoiler’s eyes told him that she could call his bluff or maybe she was daring him to try it.

 

“Tim and Cassandra wouldn’t like that very much,” Stephanie preened with those lilac streaks going through her hair. She reminded him often of Talon, but with a little more rebellion. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t like her yet keeps her around. Or that Orphan and Red Owl have formed an attachment around her that Bruce truly doesn’t ever want to understand.

 

“So what exactly are we waiting for here?” Stephanie asked while wearing the skin tight undercover clothing. The club, one owned by Cobblepot who has a soft spot for hookers, might also be sheltering Jason. Bruce can recall a time where the boy asked them to leave the whore house alone, something about a former safe haven. Then again, the former Owl also killed his former pimps girlfriend by pumping her full of bullets. He always preferred the guns over the knives and poisons.

 

“You’re going to go in there and act like a beaten and mugged prostitute,” Bruce sighed, “And you’re going to look for our fallen owl.”

 

“Won’t he know what I look like?” Stephanie asked. Jason was resourceful, he already knew Red Owl was Tim Drake. Same as he knew to avoid all physical blows from Orphan. Same as he knew that Damian was currently being initiated into their family. He most likely knows what Stephanie Brown looks like.

 

“He will,” Bruce nodded, “Get close to him and put a tracker on him. If you come back to me empty handed then Spoiler will be out of commission for a few months.”

 

The harsh glare that landed on the girl had her gulping yet she took the trackers out of his hand. Good, she could learn to tame her god damn tongue before he cuts it out. His children’s affections for her be damned.

  
  


Stephanie liked to play. She was good at it. She always played with Tim or Cassandra or maybe even Kara if she was feeling particularly feisty. But Jason Todd has always been an enigma to her, she related too much with him. The only difference was that he had the Owl’s respect whereas the Owl barely tolerated her. Blame it on Daddy issues, but she wasn’t going to come back empty handed.

 

She limped and wobbled around like the good little actress she is. She made her way through the crowd when she finally spotted him. Jason Todd was large and intimidating, but the way he helped some hooker wobble up the stairs to a safe room let her know that she could use this to her advantage.

 

When he went through the crowd, she gathered close. Pressed her body up against his in a way that would either make him uncomfortable or excited. Maybe both.

 

“Wanna know my hourly?” She giggled into his ear. He seized at the contact, but didn’t shove or push her away.

 

“Spoiler,” He whispered.

 

“Talonette,” She replied with a wink, still building close, “I’m not sure if you know this but daddy is waiting outside.”

 

“Not sure if you know this but you have a sniper on you,” He nodded up top. Sure enough, Deathstroke was lurking and awaiting from above the ceiling. Anyone who didn’t know what to look for would have missed him, “I wasn’t expecting you. Maybe Dickie. I didn’t think Owlman thought you were up for the challenge.”

 

“Maybe,” she grinned, “And maybe I surprised him.”

 

She opened her jacket up to reveal a bomb wrapped around her body. Even Owlman hadn’t thought she’d be willing to play it up this much. The bomb was attached to her heartbeat. Anything that spiked it or dropped it too low and ka-boom, a whole place of dead hookers. She knew that Jason knew it too.

 

“You might wanna start coming with me before I really start feeling myself,” She grinned as she willed herself to dance. The timer started beeping a bit at she forced her heartbeat to increase. Jason grabbed her arm roughly before waving off Deathstroke.

 

“You don’t want to do this,” He hissed at her.

 

“Oh but I do,” she grinned up at him. 

  
  
  


Cassandra used to be alot like Damian, stuck with two parents that liked the play in the gray area when involved with one another. David Cain stole Lady Shiva’s baby girl and raised her to be a weapon. Instead of seeing her potential or a daughter, Shiva saw her as a threat and was ‘forced’ to take her down. On the run from both parents, the girl came across the Owl Family. She found her place there welcomed with open if not slightly bloody arms. Bruce helped her learn control and where and who to take her anger out on.

 

She knew that they were the bad guys. Bad guys who killed good guys and other bad guys. But that didn’t matter much because they were family. Family chooses family in the end. Owlman just wanted what was best for his family. In Gotham, that meant power and control or else you ended up dead. 

 

She found Tim at the medbay with Alfred stitching up his side with a dagger mark deep enough to be deadly and painful. It stretched about  eight inches long and three inches deep.

 

“The little owlet and I played a game of cat and mouse,” He smirked, “Mouse finally won.”

 

“Where?” She asked. She saw no sight of their newest brother.

 

Tim shrugged, “He ran. I don’t know. Little guy had a good fucking hit in, surprised me. Waited till last minute to jump out and attack. Guess he didn’t want Brucie to hear that he failed again.”

 

Brucie was never fun to deal with when they failed, or so she heard. Cassandra never failed. It wasn’t something she was known for. In fact, Owlman should be scared of her. Still Cassandra could guess where the child was, and unlike the others he couldn’t escape her.

 

“Little brother,” she crouched down to where he was hidden underneath a sink surrounded by cartons of bleach and cleaning supplies. He’s arms are covered in blood. His left wrist is sprained. He’s bleeding from his ear where Tim must’ve gotten him before. But his hands are blood red where he is glaring at a bloody knife. The boy is tearful and staring at her as if he already lost. Which he would have if she were after him. He wouldn’t even fight back as she twisted that little neck with a clear snap, “You won. Dad is happy.”

 

“I left him to bleed out,” Damian whimpered. She toyed with the knife in her hands. Talon is going to force the boy to cuddle with him tonight, whisper how proud he is into the young boy’s ear until the boy eventually tires himself out and resigns to laying with his older brother.

 

She nodded with a smile, “Alfred found him. You did what you were supposed to do.”

 

He shook his head. The tears were falling harder, “I almost killed him. I liked it. I’m a killer. We’re killers. Go away. Just go away.”

 

She grabbed his small body and jerked it out. He fought against her but no real avail. She grabbed the shaking shoulders and stared at his watery eyes, “Family.”

  
  


Tim Drake liked the way the drugs Alfred pumped him up with felt throughout his body. He felt like he was floating, and any of those repulsing wrogn thoughts went away. Red Bird wasn’t bad, Red Bird saved Gotham. People were just confused. The Jester just wanted the family to himself. He lied alot.

 

Owlman never meant to hurt his family, they just had to learn. That’s what Tim told himself after he was rescued from the Jester and had those silly thoughts of the Batman being wrong. The solitary was good for him the same way chasing Damian around the house was good for the little owlet.

 

He played with the stitches, “Good job, little brother. Good job.”

  
  


Barbara Gordon wanted to know who Jason Todd was in contact with. She knew he had contacts within the League, but they were taken care of now that Bruce had Damian in his custody. Deathstroke was another one, but there had to be more or else he wouldn’t be hiding out at Cobblepots. Though she wished she could do this alone or even be accompanied by Talonette or Orphan. No, it seemed she’d always find her way back to Talon.

 

Though working with him had its perks. He could be fun, albeit messy and flirtatious. She hadn’t worked with the Bats in awhile considering Owlman was still furious with her for choosing blood over the nest. But Bruce was stuck on the notion on family not killing family. He was stuck on the idea of acceptance, so Barbara learned her lesson.

 

She stood in her former home where she killed James Gordon Junior for discovering it was her who killed all those people. It was her who haunted the streets as Predator. He didn’t leave her much of a choice, killing him wasn’t hard. They never got along. But erasing the world of James Gordon, wherever he was now that she protected him from the Owls and Gotham city… that was hard.

 

Looking through her father’s old cases was hard, but apparent. Red Hood had been around long enough before they found out it was Jason under there… Anything about him working with other enemies of the Owlman would be here…

 

“Good times we had here, Predator,” Talon grinned. She rolled her eyes.

 

“Yes,” She nodded, “I seem to remember somebody not knowing what no meant.”

 

It was a long time ago. An eager Talon with grabby hands, sometimes his need for close proximity got him in trouble. When Jason first showed up during his training, Talon liked to play rough and it earned him many knees in the groin from his younger brother. When he first got ‘over excited’ with Barbara, she shot him in the thigh with her father’s gun.

 

“My favorite scar,” Talon smiled, “Though the little Owlet tried to knife me the other day after I took him out of the morgue.”

 

“Good,” Predator deadpanned, “You’re a moron that lacks the knowledge of what personal space is.”

 

She could feel the breathe down the back of her neck just like she knew she would. Like part of her wanted. Talon always had her feeling between making love to him and wanting to stick a knife between his ribs right into his lungs so he could choke on his own blood.

 

_ What’s family without a little chaos. _

 

“You used to like it,” He whispered with hands rubbing up and down her arms. Hands that could cause her pain as easily as they can cause pleasure. With Talon, that usually meant the same thing. Still Predator was the one in charge here.

 

She turned fast with a knife to his neck. She pushed against it to cause a small line of blood to form, “Would you like another scar?”

 

His eyes are most likely widened in bliss behind that domino, “You always knew how to get me hot, Predator. Like when you shot that psychiatric bitch and paralysed her. Poor little Harley Quinn.”

 

She pushed harder against his neck. He was getting excited as much as he was afraid. Predator could feel the adrenaline pulsing through her. It felt similar to when Harley Quinn attempted to save all the poor ‘brainwashed’ children of the Bat. The bitch befriended a young girl and tried to twist her mind. Predator made sure to remind her why you don’t mess with the Owl family.

 

“Ah -ah,” Talon grabbed her wrist. But didn’t move it at all. He liked it too much, “cut my vocal cords and I can’t sing about the information I found about our little Jay Bird.”

 

“Which is?” She raised her eyebrow.

 

“Red Hood’s connection of Black Mask,” He gave a wolfish grin that sent chills down her back. She loved it.

  
  


Owlman was surprised with the success that Talonette had on not only finding their lost bird but bringing both Jason and Deathstroke outside to meet the Owl face to face. His boy looked different than Bruce remembered but still just as lethal.

 

She skipped over to Bruce’s side, undressing herself without a care in the world. He could see his second son’s eyes doing their best not to glance at the body of a naked women. Speaking of, Owlman doesn’t remember her walking in there wearing the bombs. Maybe he underestimated the little brat.

 

“Jason,” Owlman took off the cowl. Anyone who saw could either be killed or paid off, “And Slade Wilson.”

 

“Still sending out children to do you dirty work,” Jason glared. A gun was drawn on Bruce in seconds. Deathstroke aswell. Meanwhile, Stephanie wiggled back into her Talonette costume and gear as if nothing was happening.

 

“You mean family,” He glared.

 

“I mean the fucked up little kids of Gotham that are vulnerable. And instead of helping them, you make the killers,” He glared, “Your little brainwashed soldiers.”

 

“You mean the children that I save from the streets. From being Orphans,” He stared at Jason, “The same way I saved you from the streets. From the perverts and thugs that stole and took advantage of you.”

 

“You mean when you taught me how to slit a innocent woman’s throat in revenge,”  Jason huffed, “I was thirteen and scared shitless. Your fucking trainings and punishments. It’s bullshit and we either end up dead or as fucked up as you.”

 

“And what your mission is to kill me and the rest of the family?” Bruce asked.

 

“Just you,” Jason swallowed before his eyes flickered to Stephanie. Bruce knew that Jason was all about saving the victims. His siblings were something that the Red Hood avoided killing, always preaching about how they could be better. Even if Jason denies it, He feels loyalty to the Owl family and views them as victims.

 

Bruce can admit to himself, never the others, that he is harsh on the children but Gotham is rough. They need control that only Bruce can provide. He loosened his rein on Jason a tad and the boy died. Bruce won’t let that happen again. It’s why Talon spent a week in the medbay when he blindly went to avenge Jason’s death. Bruce had to protect him. Talon attempted to disobey him, so he received the consequences. It’s simple.

 

“Why don’t you come home for dinner?” Bruce asked, ignoring the guns. Deathstroke is following Jason’s lead. If Jason really wanted him dead then he would shoot, and by the way Jason is shaking it is a sign that he doesn’t want him dead, “Alfred missed you.”

 

It was a cheap shot. The boy faltered a bit but straightened back up, “Don’t bring him into this.”

 

“You haven’t had a chance to be formally introduced to the new members of the family. Tim would love to meet you, he always admired the way you threw everything you had into work. His favorite story is when I had you set the church on fire. You know the one where all the drug smugglers were.”

 

“And where twenty innocent people died during a Sunday mass,” Jason huffed, “Thanks, I’ll pass.”

 

“I’ll make it worth your while,” Talonette winked before turning her eyes to Slade,”You too Mister. I’ve always had a thing for the older ones. Daddy issues and all that.”

 

Deathstroke rolled his eyes but kept them on Bruce. Oh how Bruce hates the man who kills for a living. Atleast when Bruce kills, even the innocent, it is all for the greater good. For Gotham. He’s trying to steal Bruce’s children. The same way he attempted to talk down Orphan, good thing for Bruce, Cassandra’s loyalty will forever lie with him.

 

“I’m going home, Jason,” Bruce told his son, “I hope to see you at home tonight. But even if I don’t, I’m sure we will see eachother again. We are family, after all.”

  
  



End file.
